1. Field of the Invention
This, invention relates to a flour-type product which is made from sugar cane and is suitable for human consumption. Particularly, this invention relates to such a flour-type product that has a high dietary fiber content and is essentially free of fibrovascular bundles and rind residue.
2. Background Discussion
Sugar cane is conventionally processed to produce sucrose. It comprises an outer epidermal layer attached to a wood-like, intermediate rind which encases an inner, soft pith. The pith is a matrix of thin-walled parenchyma cells in which are embedded long, internal, fibrovascular bundles extending longitudinally along the sugar cane stalk. The parenchyma cells contain a liquid having a high concentration of sugar, primarily sucrose.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,567 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,809 there are disclosed livestock feeds derived from sugar cane. Such livestock feed is a mixture of the pith and dietary supplements. It is prepared by separating the epidermal layer, the rind, and the pith, and then adding to the pith the dietary supplements. The equipment used to separate the epidermal layer and rind from the pith is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,510 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,498. Because they are not considered detrimental to animals, the internal fibrovascular bundles are not removed from the pith to make the livestock feed.
With greater appreciation of the need for human food products to have a higher fiber content, the livestock feed derived from sugar cane has been the subject of intensive research. The problem with the livestock feed is that the separation of the rind from the pith is incomplete, with significant amounts of the rind remaining in the pith even after separation. Moreover, and even more importantly, the fibrovascular bundles in the pith are not separated from the parenchyma cells. Because fibrovascular bundles from the pith and rind residue are present in sugar cane derived livestock feed, it is unsuitable for human consumption. One reason is that the rind residue and fibrovascular fiber bundles disintegrate into needle-like particles which cannot be safely consumed by humans.